The mission of the Minority Business Enterprise Program is to increase the participation of small, minority and veteran-owned businesses in the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s procurement process. The program sets small, minority and veteran-owned business participation goals on contracts of $100,000.00 or more. In accordance with state laws and regulations of the program, the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has a Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) participation goal of 25% and a Veteran-owned Small Business Enterprise (VSBE) participation goal of .5%.

Under the MBE Program, we encourage the utilization of small and minority contractors in our procurement program. We recommend ways to facilitate procurement participation by small businesses. We coordinate and participate in outreach efforts that publicize our agency’s procurement opportunities. We recommend MBE participation goals on agency contracts and we monitor the participation of small, minority and veteran-owned businesses in our procurement process.

In order to enhance the procurement and MBE Program process by maximizing opportunities for participation of small, minority and veteran-owned businesses on contracts with the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and; to facilitate the achievement of these goals, we have established a Procurement Review Group (PRG).The PRG reviews contracts for subcontracting opportunities for small, minority and veteran-owned businesses.In addition, the MBE Program administratively monitors the contracts for compliance with the MBE Program requirements.

The MBE Program also serves to provide information, resources and assistance to agency staff and certified small, minority and veteran-owned business enterprises in order to increase participation and create partnerships to achieve the best participation on overall MBE goals on agency contracts.

The State of Maryland’s Minority Business Enterprise Program is nationally known and recognized. The program is designed to encourage the growth of small, minority and veteran-owned businesses, and to enhance their participation on state contracts.The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s MBE Director has the role of making the program successful.

The Director of the MBE program performs compliance reviews and monitors contracts with MBE and VSBE goals on a monthly basis.Payment verification reports are used to assist with monitoring compliance and in the final analysis to see if the prime contractor met its overall MBE goal and any sub-goals that were established for the contract. The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene sponsors and attends outreach efforts to attract small, minority and veteran-owned businesses.Efforts are made to attend such events in different regions of the state.This is also considered a part of compliance and is directed by the Governor’s Office of Minority Affairs (GOMA).